You sign in once to your company account and suddenly you have access to e-mail, documents and other apps, with no further password typing. That is SSO.

What SSO is

SSO (Single Sign-On) is the way a user signs in once and gains access to several applications at once, without having to log in again each time. A well known example is signing in with Google or with a company Microsoft account.

How it works

Applications do not trust the password directly, but a trusted identity provider (for example Microsoft Entra ID in Microsoft 365). Once you have signed in, it confirms who you are, and the apps let you in on that basis.

Benefits

Fewer passwords to remember, faster sign-in and, for a company, simpler management. When an employee leaves, you just disable one account and access disappears everywhere at once.

Risks and how to reduce them

Since one account opens many doors, breaking it is all the more dangerous. That is why with SSO it pays to turn on two-factor authentication or passkeys, so the password alone is not enough to get in.

Summary

SSO saves time and simplifies access management, but it makes securing the main account all the more important. One key to many doors is convenient right up until someone loses it.

This article is part of our Software and system overview.